1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to games and, more particularly, to storyline based card games.
2. Background Information
Board games challenge the mind and teach players various skills and concepts, such as formulating strategies, sharing, socializing, competing, winning, and losing. Board games represent a class of activities that encourage cognitive mental development by challenging player's minds, as opposed to their bodies.
Card based games, whether played on an associated board or not, generally incur inexpensive manufacturing costs and offer correspondingly inexpensive games to the consumers. A Card based game is any game using playing cards, either traditional (e.g. poker, or rummy) or game-specific (e.g. Magic the Gathering). A playing card is a typically hand-sized piece of heavy paper or thin plastic. A complete set of cards is a pack or deck. A deck of cards is used for playing one or many card games.
The earliest playing cards are believed to have originated in Central Asia. The documented history of card playing began in the 10th century, when the Chinese began using paper dominoes by shuffling and dealing them in new games. Four-suited decks with court cards evolved in the Moslem world and were imported by Europeans before 1370. In those days, cards were hand-painted and only the very wealthy could afford them, but with the invention of woodcuts in the 14th century, Europeans began mass-production.
Collectible card games (CCGs), also called trading card games (TCGs), are played using specially designed sets of playing cards. While trading cards have been around for much longer, CCGs combine the appeal of collecting and strategic game play. The first collectible card game was The Base Ball Card Game produced by The Allegheny Card Co. at the turn of the 19th century. The modern concept of CCG games was first presented in Magic: The Gathering™, designed by Richard Garfield and published by Wizards of the Coast in 1993.
Background storylines are often used to establish a setting in which a strategy card game is played. One card game has used cards to convey or build a series of storylines, namely Nanofictionary™ is a card game created by Andrew Looney and published by Looney labs in which players collect cards and use them to make up stories. At the beginning of the game, the players are dealt various cards that represent story elements (characters, settings, situations, and resolutions.) Players then all take a turn at once, exchanging these cards for new ones or collecting more of them if desired. After every player has accumulated a full story's worth of cards, each creates a short story based on the cards they ended up with and the group then votes on who has the best story. This process may be repeated.
Trivial Pursuit™ is a board game where progress is determined by a player's ability to answer general knowledge or popular culture questions. The game was conceived in 1979 by Scott Abbott and Chris Haney. The questions asked are provided in unique card sets that make up the essence of the game. A large number of distinct question sets have been produced over the years since its introduction, generally specializing in a given field.
Clue™ is a crime fiction board game originally published by Waddingtons beginning in 1948. It was devised by Anthony E. Pratt, and is now published by Hasbro. The game is set in a mansion, with the board divided into different rooms. The players each represent a character who is a guest staying at this house, whose owner, Mr. Boddy (Dr. Black in some versions), has been found murdered. Players attempt to solve the murder. The solution to the murder requires the three components of Suspect, Weapon, and Room. With all of the suspects, weapons and rooms being represented in a single game deck of cards.
Games in general have long been used by educators to assist student in learning by increasing the enjoyment in the material presentation or review.
The always remains a need for educational games, and for interesting games in general.